Enhancing Rural Connectivity: Rasool Keshavarz and Negin Shariati's Breakthrough in Agricultural Wi-Fi Technology as IoT Award Finalists 2024
Rasool Keshavarz and Negin Shariati are Finalists in the IoT Award Australia 2024, Research category, for their industry-driven research 'Farm-wide Wi-Fi: RF Switching Module and Antenna System for Enhancing Rural and Agricultural Connectivity in Australia.' Their Industry partner Zetifi will bring UTS lab-based prototypes to commercialization leveraging Government grants.
Summary:
Insufficient connectivity is a major barrier for Australian primary producers, rendering digital agriculture technologies expensive and impractical due to poor mobile communication networks. This deficiency results in limited access to telecommunications, creating notable social, economic, and safety challenges across farmer properties and communities. Long-range communications in low-population-density rural areas demand a unique approach compared to urban solutions.
Our industry-driven research at RFCT Laboratory addresses challenges in delivering connectivity to rural passenger vehicles. Collaborating with industry partner Zetifi, our technology underwent rigorous testing in Wagga Wagga, producing a smaller, more affordable, and efficient prototype tailored for public roads and car parks. Research efforts focused on developing a custom antenna array and RF system for long-range rural communications, aiming for a cost-effective solution to address social, economic, and safety challenges and facilitate research commercialization in digital agriculture technologies.
Our custom prototypes outperform existing solutions in the market, effectively resolving connectivity issues in low/no coverage areas. This ensures reliable communication, enhancing productivity, profitability, safety, and overall quality of life.
Our technology offers a compact size, extended communication range, enhanced data performance, reduced energy requirements, and cost-effective production, placing it at the forefront of advancing rural connectivity solutions in Australia.